Enamel Medal - Pandora's Box

Discussion in 'Antique Discussion' started by Agi, Nov 25, 2019.

  1. Agi

    Agi New Member

    Hello.
    I have this curious antique naive enamel medal on the theme of Pandora's box with the inscription 'Curiosity Is Woman', but don't know much about it.
    The person I bought it from believes it's early 19th century, but that's all the info I have.
    There is also a maker's mark on the back unknown to me.
    Can anyone help me identify it and perhaps some further information on it please?
     

    Attached Files:

    Last edited: Nov 25, 2019
    Bronwen and Any Jewelry like this.
  2. Any Jewelry

    Any Jewelry Well-Known Member

    Welcome, Agi.
    In this case I think curiosity is man.;)
    That looks right to me. It may have been inlaid in the top of a box at one time, although not Pandora's box (I hope).

    [​IMG]
     
  3. Debora

    Debora Well-Known Member

    Curiosity's likely to catch her death.

    Debora
     
  4. Ownedbybear

    Ownedbybear Well-Known Member

  5. moreotherstuff

    moreotherstuff Izorizent

    Bilston style is what comes to mind, but this doesn't give me an 18th C vibe. Both the writing and the depiction of the woman seem later 20th C to me.
     
  6. Bronwen

    Bronwen Well-Known Member

    Agree. In the 18th century they were using those lower case Ss that look like lower case Fs except when S is the final letter.
     
  7. Ownedbybear

    Ownedbybear Well-Known Member

  8. Bronwen

    Bronwen Well-Known Member

    upload_2019-11-25_10-48-6.png
    upload_2019-11-25_10-48-31.png
    upload_2019-11-25_10-48-56.png
    upload_2019-11-25_10-49-20.png

    I don't know which way is the right way up, but in first orientation, as OP has it, one bit looks like an anchor to me.
     
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  9. Debora

    Debora Well-Known Member

    A modern hand, to my eye.

    Debora
     
  10. shallow_ocean_spectre

    shallow_ocean_spectre fine.books' bumping squirrel


    I quite agree - and surely not eighteenth century, when it was still remembered that Pandora opened a jar (πίθοι) and not a box. This - like a certain ring which recently turned up on Antiquers - seems likewise to have come from the hoard of the Crackerjack Empire.
    .
     
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  11. Bronwen

    Bronwen Well-Known Member

    @Agi What are the measurements of your item? How big is it?
     
  12. Debora

    Debora Well-Known Member

    An example of an 18th century hand, a period when writing was a priviledge.

    Debora

    Battersea-Bilston-English-Enamel-x7896-Scatter-full-1A-700-10.10-2-f.png
     
  13. shallow_ocean_spectre

    shallow_ocean_spectre fine.books' bumping squirrel

    Oh, ƒurely ƒhe can't be ƒerious!
    .
     
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  14. Bronwen

    Bronwen Well-Known Member

    Goodness. How long did that take to type, switching fonts back & forth? :)

    I remember a thread where there was a goose chase for a while because part of a box label appeared to read 'filber'.
     
  15. Ownedbybear

    Ownedbybear Well-Known Member

    MArk looks like a daffodil.
     
  16. shallow_ocean_spectre

    shallow_ocean_spectre fine.books' bumping squirrel

    @Bronwen - It's an ascii code; the Unicode is 0192.








    In ages dimmed to mem'ry, 'twas long and long ago, a mighty culture flourished here before.
    Today we find their artefacts, as Magical as Smithy Wayland's shirt of mail - or Chrysaor!
    And when Fortuna's ipsum bonum, sometimes we get the chance to own 'em - gallant artefacts like Hermes' sneakers;
    Sometimes - by synchronicity - by sheer luck or duplicity - a Crackerjack appears here on Antiquers!

    [With sincere, abject apologies to Silius Italicus.]
    .
     
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  17. Debora

    Debora Well-Known Member

    Mark does indeed look like a daffodil.

    Debora
     
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  18. Agi

    Agi New Member

    Wow, it looks like I have started a fight! :D
    Seriously though, thanks for your time and contribution everybody. :)
    So to answer the 2 questions that came up:
    The way in the original picture is the right way up.
    I personally see an anchor or the initials 'JC' in the mark.
    And the medal measures 46 x 64 mm.
     
  19. Bronwen

    Bronwen Well-Known Member

    It would take me so long to find the code, cumbersome as it would be, it would take me less time to change fonts in the editor.

    Now there's someone/something that doesn't often get a mention. Pegasus' brother.
     
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  20. Bronwen

    Bronwen Well-Known Member

    Seems like a reasonable size to have been set in a snuff box lid.

    Are you sure? Marks on the back of things are not always oriented in the same direction as images on the front.
     
    shallow_ocean_spectre likes this.
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